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Evaluating entrepreneurs in the shadow economy: economic or social entrepreneurship?

Author

Listed:
  • Colin C. Williams
  • Sara Nadin

Abstract

Recently, a growing stream of literature on entrepreneurship has revealed that many entrepreneurs start-up their enterprises operating wholly or partially off-the-books. This paper evaluates critically the assumption that these shadow entrepreneurs are engaged in for-profit economic entrepreneurship. Reporting a 2005 survey involving interviews with 43 shadow entrepreneurs in North Nottinghamshire in the UK, the finding is that shadow entrepreneurs range from purely rational economic actors pursuing for-profit logics through to purely social entrepreneurs pursuing only social logics, with the majority somewhere in-between. The result is a call for more nuanced understandings of the heterogeneous logics of shadow entrepreneurs.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2011. "Evaluating entrepreneurs in the shadow economy: economic or social entrepreneurship?," International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(1), pages 20-33.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijmede:v:11:y:2011:i:1:p:20-33
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668.
    2. Estrin, Saul & Guerrero, Maribel & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2024. "A framework for investigating new firm entry: The (limited) overlap between informal-formal and necessity-opportunity entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4).
    3. Colin C. Williams & Youssef Youssef, 2014. "Is Informal Sector Entrepreneurship Necessity- or Opportunity-driven? Some Lessons from Urban Brazil," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(1), pages 41-53, March.
    4. Akbal, Can, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and the Shadow (Informal) Economy," MPRA Paper 109739, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kim Klyver & Noel J. Lindsay & Suleiman K. “Sul” Kassicieh & Gary Hancock, 2017. "Altruistic investment decision behavior in early-stage ventures," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 135-152, January.

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